Affective disruption: Walter Benjamin and the 'history' of Ireland's industrial schools

What role do organizations play in writing history? In this paper, I address the part played by organizations in the enactment of large-scale violence, and focus on the ways in which the resulting histories come to be written. Drawing on the case of Ireland's industrial schools, I demonstrate how such accounts can act to serve the interests of those in power, effectively silencing and marginalizing weaker people. A theoretical lens that draws on ideas from Walter Benjamin and Judith Butler is helpful in understanding this; the concept of 'affective disruption' enables an exploration of how people's experiences of organizational violence can be reclaimed from the past, and protected in a continuous remembrance. Overall, this paper contributes a new perspective on the writing of organizational histories, particularly in relation to the enactment of violence. 

On the conservatism of post-Jungian criticism: competing concepts of the symbol in Freud, Jung and Walter Benjamin

The renewed interest in analytical psychology by academics working in the humanities has led to the emergence of a post-Jungian field of cultural criticism, at the theoretical core of which stands Jung's theory of symbolism. This article examines the centrality of symbolism to both Freud and Jung's psychology and explains how the differing concepts of the symbol lead to their divergent theories of interpretation in psychology and art criticism. Acknowledging the advantages of Jung's more expansive account of the symbol, it argues that Walter Benjamin's critical engagement with Jung nonetheless provides a useful correction to the problematic conservatism inherent to his concept of the symbol and its contemporary application.

Towards a Critique of Educative Violence: Walter Benjamin and ‘Second Education’

Although modern systems of mass education are typically defined in their opposition to violence, it has been argued that it is only through an insistent and critical focus upon violence that radical thought can be sustained. This article seeks to take up this challenge in relation to Walter Benjamin’s lesser-known writings on education. Benjamin retained throughout his life a deep suspicion about academic institutions and about the pedagogic, social and economic violence implicated in the idea of cultural transmission. He nonetheless remained committed to the possibility of another kind of revolutionary potential inherent to true education and, when he comes to speak of this in his Critique of Violence, it is remarkable that he describes it as manifesting an educative violence. This article argues that Benjamin’s philosophy works toward a critique of educative violence that results in a distinction between a ‘first’ and ‘second’ kind of education and asks whether destruction might have a positive role to play within pedagogical theories in contrast to current valorisations of creativity and productivity.

Indenture of deed of quit claim (original copy and memorial of) between Walter H. and Charlotte Dickson of Guelph and Joseph A. Woodruff of Niagara

Indenture of deed of quit claim (original copy and memorial of) between Walter H. and Charlotte Dickson of Guelph and Joseph A. Woodruff of Niagara for land in the Town of Clifton, Stamford and Welland, Aug. 10, 1863.

Certificate that Joseph Kingsmill, sheriff, has sold 6 acres in Lot 13 in the 3rd Concession of Crowland to Walter H. Dickson

Certificate that Joseph Kingsmill, sheriff, has sold 6 acres in Lot 13 in the 3rd Concession of Crowland to Walter H. Dickson, May 23, 1857.

Indenture of bargain and sale between Walter Hamilton and Augusta Maria Dickson of Niagara to Robert Dickson of Niagara

Indenture of bargain and sale between Walter Hamilton and Augusta Maria Dickson of Niagara to Robert Dickson of Niagara for land in the Township of Dumphries, Jan. 23, 1840.

Indenture –sheriff’s deed (vellum) between William Kingsmill, sheriff of the Niagara District and Walter H. Dickson

Indenture –sheriff’s deed (vellum) between William Kingsmill, sheriff of the Niagara District and Walter H. Dickson for 23 acres in the Town of Niagara – instrument no. 1158, Oct. 29, 1842

Indenture of bargain and sale between Walter Hamilton Dickson and Augusta Maria Dickson of Niagara to Jane Dickson (widow of Robert Dickson), Thomas Clark Street of Stamford and Edward Clarke Campbell of Niagara

Indenture of bargain and sale between Walter Hamilton Dickson and Augusta Maria Dickson of Niagara to Jane Dickson (widow of Robert Dickson), Thomas Clark Street of Stamford and Edward Clarke Campbell of Niagara for 150 acres for the south half of Lot no. 32 in the 7th concession and the north east quarter of Lot no. 22 in the 10th Concession of Dumphries. This was recorded in the County of Halton on the 29th day of January, 1849 in Folio 326, memorial 236, Jan. 12, 1849.

Funeral invitation to the funeral of Mrs. W.H. Dickson at the residence of her husband the Honourable Walter Hamilton Dickson

Funeral invitation to the funeral of Mrs. W.H. Dickson at the residence of her husband the Honourable Walter Hamilton Dickson, to St. Mark’s Church, Niagara. The invitation was sent to Mr. Waters. The item is torn and mouldy but the text is not affected, March 6, 1855.

Because of Walter.

Kaysha es una niña que desea ser adoptada, pero por desgracia siempre ocurre algo que lo impide y es enviada, de nuevo, a la casa de cogida. Cuando, aparece la familia Parker, que es la familia que soñaba tener, hay un problema, pues su hija Victoria, una niña de parecida edad a la de Kaysha, no quiere compartir sus padres con ella. Sin embargo, un hecho inesperado, ayuda a cambiar esta situación y Kaysha es admitida en casa finalmente.